


Beacon of Hope

by SassySerpents



Category: State of Decay (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:14:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28059000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SassySerpents/pseuds/SassySerpents
Summary: The tale of a group of survivors who banded together during dark times and overcame everything the apocalypse threw at them
Kudos: 1





	Beacon of Hope

To this day the exact cause of the outbreak remains unknown. Everyone had their own theories of course and a few even boasted some merit. Colloquially the outbreak was most commonly referred to as the “Z” outbreak. Apparently, the word “zombie” was too much a mouthful to be trendy for most folk and despite how fitting it may be, the word admittedly had too many connotations with existing horror pop-culture. Late 2018, the recently deceased were coming back to life as hostile abominations with a seemingly insatiable hunger for living flesh. Weeks prior to the pandemic, countries all across the world experienced an unusual spike in their mortality rate. People of all ages and health were unexpectedly passing away from seemingly natural causes. From autopsy findings, pathologists were quick to discover lethal amounts of a previously unknown biological material which appeared viral in nature. At first, it wasn’t clear if this new virus was the sole culprit as it had also been found in healthy test subjects. Doctors were in the process of linking cases together and establishing the genome when some of the first cadavers began to reanimate. The medical team who first witnessed this phenomenon were hopeful and hypothesized the virus perhaps only induced a death-like state and people would recover even without treatment. Sadly this theory was quickly debunked as within the hour the team were brutally set upon.

For a good while, any reports on the new pathogen were largely downplayed to the public with the intention of announcing the full danger once more concrete information was available and research on a cure already underway. This understandably led many people to believe the danger was minimal so when the United States of America ordered all of her citizens to stay home it did not go down well. People felt the response was disproportionate and flaunted government safety measures. The unpredictable nature of the virus added to the difficulty in keeping it under control, some carriers showed no symptoms at all whilst others grew gravely ill within days. Only when the armed forces were deployed and entire cities placed under quarantine did it dawn on people the true gravity of the situation. With cases on the rise, private mercenary companies were hired to aid containment efforts. One of which would later go on to become “Red Talon”. However, it was too little too late and scientists estimated the virus had already infected more than half the population by that point. The situation escalated rapidly. One afternoon half a morgue came alive and an entire hospital had to be evacuated. Then news came of a kindergarten teacher who unexpectedly dropped dead during naptime, shortly came around and then attacked her students. Stories like these became more and more common. Then the power went out. Which also meant the internet was down. Within hours the crisis spiralled further out of control and mass panic ensued. As the situation grew more and more dire the military were recalled to focus their attention on special areas of interest; namely capitals and large cities. This left everybody else to fend for themselves. As a result, as things got worse, people abandoned their homes and fled en masse, leaving ghost towns in their wake and causing accidents and road jams wherever they went.

In hindsight there were obvious signs something was amiss. Weeks before people started becoming ill, social media had become flooded with images of unusual wildlife activity. Many animals recorded were notably sickly-looking and exhibited heightened aggression. Experts tried to explain footage of cannibalistic raccoons as being due to food shortages but even they were baffled by reports of rabbits feasting on carrion and a video of a rabid stag, entrails on full display, tearing into a coyote. Entire flocks of dead birds littered the roads and the number of flies seemed almost biblical. Given the outbreak occurred worldwide and at roughly the same time, the most accepted theories were all related to something contaminating the water. Many went on to blame global warming as being responsible for the contaminant existing in the first place while others believed it was artificially created as part of a government conspiracy. But ultimately it didn’t matter which theory was closest to the truth because at the end of the day the outcome was the same; Jack’s freshman year was thoroughly ruined and he could not possibly be more bitter about it.

Born and raised in a small town in northern California, Jack enjoyed a peaceful but relatively lonely upbringing. He yearned for the big city and was over the moon when his college acceptance letter came to study agriculture. The poor lad was only halfway through his first term when the outbreak struck. Over the coming weeks, Jack ignored his parent’s pleas to come home despite the pandemic getting worse and shops and services stopping all around him. He, like most other students, chose to live in denial as long they could, relishing the new experiences college life offered. Jack cherished his new-found independence and given his friendly nature, had no trouble making friends. Aside from the constant partying, he joined the a few sport clubs and volunteered at the botanical garden. As the virus grew worse, more and more people, staff and student alike, started to bail. People understandably wanted to be with their families in a time of crisis. Jack, on the other hand, remained on campus even after his classes were cancelled. His short-sighted thinking being as long as some students were still about he could keep his new, fun lifestyle going.

So naturally there was little sympathy when one day he found himself stranded on campus with a splitting, self-inflicted headache from having a drink too many at a party the night before, illegally too it must be noted. Normally he would be woken by the hustle and bustle of the other lads in his dormitory but that morning there was just silence. The place felt lonely, he was the one left on the third floor. After resting his hangover all morning and most of the afternoon he realised he was short on both food and money. And in a rare moment of self-awareness, Jack realised he should have hauled his ass home weeks ago. He tried calling his mother hoping she would come collect him and that’s when he discovered both the cell network and internet had gone down overnight. Putting on a thin fleece, he took a quick walk around the grounds hoping to borrow someone else’s phone but soon discovered everyone was in the similar predicament. As buses were no longer running and Jack didn’t own a car, he was effectively trapped. He decided to give the situation a few days, hoping it would resolve itself. On the fourth evening of his flawless plan to do absolutely nothing, he heard screaming.

At first Jack dismissed it, he was comfy and warm under his duvet and he had no intention of investigating. But then came another scream, male this time, which was followed by frantic, panicked shouting but Jack couldn’t quite make out what was being said. He slid out of bed, switched off the lights as he was in his boxers and made his way to the window. In the distance he could make out people running towards his general direction. As they got closer Jack could see several were hurt, many were bleeding, and in hot pursuit were at least a dozen infected. This was the first time Jack had seen the living dead in person and he stood frozen on the spot in both fascination and fear. As his mind raced whether to flee or hide, there was a loud yelp followed by a resounding thud. One of the students making up the rear had tripped. Her shrieks for help rang out into the night but fell on deaf ears. Jack watched in horror as her friends abandoned her to her fate. He watched as the dead piled on her and soon she was no longer visible beneath the mass of bodies, shortly after her screaming stopped. Having witnessed what just happened, Jack’s brain finally kicked into gear. His heart racing, he put on some clothes in personal record time, grabbed his phone and keys and bolted out his dormitory room and down the stairs. As he hit the first floor he could better hear the guttural moaning outside. It was loud and coming from all directions. There were more of them. They were getting closer. Knowing it would be safer to exit via the fire escape in the back he sprinted down the corridor, turned the corner and ran straight into the living corpse of what used to be the resident advisor.

Jack hit the floor hard and scrambled to regain his footing. The zombie before him had at least fifty pounds on him and wasn’t knocked over by the collision. It fixed its hungry eyes on the boy before him and lunged. Jack gasped as two large hands gripped him by both shoulders, lifting him clean off the ground. As it pulled him closer Jack brought both knees up and thrust himself off the zombie’s chest with all the strength his legs could muster. The manoeuvre freed him from the grasp and they both fell backwards. Realising he wasn’t going to get past the brute before him, Jack turned and ran back the way he came. He had made it halfway down the corridor before skidding to a halt. At the other end he could see three infected were pounding away on the glass doors of the main entrance, trying to force their way in. Behind him he could hear the resident advisor had gotten up and was shuffling in pursuit. With a sudden bang the left door gave way and Jack felt the cold night air wash past his face. In panic he fled up a flight of stairs and tried some of the doors either side of him. Jack was infinitely grateful to find someone had left dormitory room B6 unlocked and hurried inside, slamming the door shut behind him. The bunkbeds and wardrobes were too heavy for him to move alone so he settled for a small desk, shoving it against the door and leaning his full body weight against it.

Taking the opportunity to catching his breath, Jack slowed his panting and listened to his surroundings only to hear the unmistaken sound of shuffling footsteps approaching. Jack crouched down and did his best to be silent, knowing the dead didn’t see which room he was hiding in. Seconds felt like minutes, sweat ran down his forehead and Jack could hear each one of his frightened heartbeats echoing in his head. Why had everything suddenly gone so quiet? One set of footsteps ambled past the room, then another and then a third. As a fourth set of footsteps approached, Jack’s cell phone buzzed, sending a soft vibration down his leg. Low battery. The shuffling stopped. Then the shuffling resumed, quicker, angrier and towards his location, accompanied by smug predatory snarling. Jack cursed as the first thump on the door was stronger than he anticipated. He pushed back and braced himself as more pounding followed. The assault was getting quicker, more forceful. Each thump shook the walls and Jack could feel dislodged ceiling dust and debris settling on his hair. Jack held tight and did what most people would do in his exact situation; he cried.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, I'm having fun giving creative writing a go!  
> Please feel free to leave any criticism


End file.
